Piece from "Jungle Speaks"

The Southern part of Mexico is home to more than 200 different human languages, and there are many more. In the jungle there are many local languages; like the stingray's gentle call to the sea turtle, or the way the palm trees converse with the banana leaves.

I spent a month in the Yucatán peninsula on my bike, listening to these conversations. I learned of the xanate's restless tone, the cat shark's patience and the coati's mischief. But I also heard the turtle mumble sadly as I watched it swim by a plastic bottle, while the chac yuyum's call echoed through the forest unanswered.

Yucatán is a rich historical landscape, where old legends get retold for the latest, countless time as the coffee is being poured and where you can still find ruined empires amid the dense foliage. Stunning pyramids rise up in forest clearings. Jaguars and rattlesnakes, still alive in the local forest, are carved into the ancient stone, depicted in mid-sentence. Lines and swirls of speech tumble out of the creatures' mouths. I realize the world that is reproduced in these carvings, where jaguars speak to humans and birds gossip with snakes might be a receding one. But maybe not. I wonder: will I or my children ever live in a world where these languages are spoken fluently again?

The piece is gouache on paper, and then worked on the computer, and is approx 31 x 31". It was made in 2017 when I was living in México.

by Ines Chapela